Search Results

Institution:
The Quality of Government Institute. University of Gothenburg.

Abstract:
There are a growing number of studies with the ambition to present causal reasoning linking the
presence of women in political organizations to reductions in levels of corruption. The theoretical
mechanisms proposed are however seldom directly tested, instead scholars tend to use designs
where a large number of control variables are introduced in order to “rule out” rivalry hypotheses.
These designs leave us with a number of loose ends that needs to be more carefully dealt with. The
aim of this paper is to introduce a new and comparatively simple way of measuring degrees of femininity
and masculinity and discuss whether this approach could add to the understanding of gender
effects found in research on corruption. The analysis show that femininity is linked to pro-social
values and the suggestion is for future research to focus more on indirect effects on corruption from
the inclusion of women in political organizations. Exposure-based theories highlight mechanisms
such as changed group norms that may pave the ground for an increased focus on the public good.
The data used draws on a large-scale survey among Swedish citizens in 2013.

Institution:
The Quality of Government Institute. University of Gothenburg.

Abstract:
Against a backdrop of increased levels of marketization of welfare services in OECD countries, this
article aims to shed light on the separate effects of private ownership and competition on service
quality. Using residential elderly care in Sweden as our case, we leverage unique panel data of ownership
and competition against a set of indicators, pertaining to the structure, process and outcome
dimensions of care quality. The main finding of our analyses is that competition does surprisingly
little for quality: private entrepreneurs perform neither better nor worse under stiff competition and
the quality of care is approximately the same in those nursing homes that are exposed to competition
from private actors as in those that are not.

Institution:
The Quality of Government Institute. University of Gothenburg.

Abstract:
The longstanding debate on whether foreign aid promotes development suggests that aid’s efficacy
depends on conditions in recipient states. Advocates of gender equality argue that empowering
women is desirable not only in its own right but also as a means to other sought-after outcomes.
We bring together these issues and argue that women’s empowerment in aid-receiving countries
should enhance the effect of foreign aid on child development outcomes. We find support for this
argument in analyses of up to 107 developing countries from 1986-2010. Our results indicate that
aid is associated with greater reductions in infant mortality where women are more empowered.
Furthermore, we find that among the different dimensions of empowerment—political, economic
and social—political participation has the strongest and most consistent mediating effect on foreign
aid. Our work has implications for research on aid effectiveness, the consequences of gender equality,
and the politics of presence

Institution:
The Quality of Government Institute. University of Gothenburg.

Abstract:
The longstanding debate on whether foreign aid promotes development suggests that aid’s efficacy
depends on conditions in recipient states. Advocates of gender equality argue that empowering
women is desirable not only in its own right but also as a means to other sought-after outcomes.
We bring together these issues and argue that women’s empowerment in aid-receiving countries
should enhance the effect of foreign aid on child development outcomes. We find support for this
argument in analyses of up to 107 developing countries from 1986-2010. Our results indicate that
aid is associated with greater reductions in infant mortality where women are more empowered.
Furthermore, we find that among the different dimensions of empowerment—political, economic
and social—political participation has the strongest and most consistent mediating effect on foreign
aid. Our work has implications for research on aid effectiveness, the consequences of gender equality,
and the politics of presence

Institution:
The Quality of Government Institute. University of Gothenburg.

Abstract:
Environmental taxes are argued to be the key to more effective environmental protection in developing
countries. This paper investigates whether such taxes have the necessary public support to be
successfully implemented in different contexts, including countries outside the Western and European
spheres. Applying a multilevel analysis approach, using data from the World Values Survey and
International Social Survey Programme, interaction effects between values, political and social trust,
and perceived quality of government (QoG) are explored. It is hypothesized that if people lack trust
in public authorities to implement green taxes in an efficient, fair and uncorrupt manner, they will be
less likely to support such taxes despite their strong pro-environmental values or trust in other people.
The results show that people holding green values are more likely to support environmental taxes if
they live in countries with high levels of QoG. Moreover, the effect of social trust on support for
green taxes appears to be contingent on individual-level political trust rather than the quality of government
institutions. These interactions need further exploration since they vary across countries and
datasets. While support for environmental taxes is found to be relatively high in some developing
countries, public aversion towards higher taxes for environmental protection is still relatively high
internationally.

Institution:
The Quality of Government Institute. University of Gothenburg.

Abstract:
What factors explain public support for international redistribution? While the European Union has
sent billions of taxpayers’ money to over indebted euro countries in an attempt to avoid an economic
collapse, these transfers have encountered fierce resistance among both donor and recipient constituents.
However, we know surprisingly little about why citizens support or oppose redistribution
within the EU. This paper suggests that domestic levels of corruption and institutional quality may
be one of the most important explanations for the great variation in public support for financial
assistance and aid. Using recent European Elections Survey data merged with data on regional level
quality of government, we show that the effects of institutional quality are consistently stronger than
macro-economic factors, including economic development, inequality or levels of public debt. We
find strong evidence that citizens’ in low corrupt contexts are more likely to support financial assistance
to fellow member states. The results have implications for future challenges in securing public
support for EU economic integration as well as for our understanding of how and why corruption
undermines society’s collective action capacity

Abstract:
Germany’s collaboration with Central European countries, and especially the Visegrad Group (V4) is often perceived through the prism of political differences that have arisen from divergent visions of the future EU migration policy and debates on the rule of law. Simultaneously, new opportunities to deepen the already existing cooperation may appear due to the turmoil in Germany’s domestic politics as well as the international environment..

Abstract:
This Policy Contribution tackles the definition and benefits of collaborative economy, as well as the distinction between professional and non-professional services, recommendations on safety and transparency for users, and the way to approach regulatory concerns.

Abstract:
Kim Jung-un’s new year declaration that North Korea will test its new ICBM this year (2017) poses a further challenge to the incoming Trump administration. It is truly a “rogue state” – a country that conducts nuclear tests in defiance of the UN Security Council, and that is willing to sell conventional and non-conventional weapons to other rogue regimes, including Israel’s enemies. The nuclear cooperation between North Korea, Syria and Iran forces Israel into new alliances to counter this threat.

Abstract:
This manifesto contains 39 recommendations to address corruption in our country and the UK’s role in facilitating corruption globally. These five priority actions, building on past government announcements, deserve cross-party support, and could be introduced swiftly.